This application incorporates by reference Taiwanese application Serial No. 90114213, Filed Jun. 12, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and a fabrication method therefor, particularly to a method capable of forming a uniform cell gap.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compared to a conventional display panel, the liquid crystal display (LCD) panel has the potential of lightweight, low power consumption and high resolution for which are generally beloved by the consuming public. Also, the other portable products, such as personal digital assistant (PDA) and cellular phone, enjoy a rapid growth in the market. With the increasing demand, the image display of those portable products is expected to have the same resolution as that of a personal computer. For example, the liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) panel, which generally applies to a small display panel, is a panel composed of a silicon substrate and a glass substrate with liquid crystal injected between. As such LCOS panel differs from the common liquid crystal panel that utilizes two substrates both made of glass, it can be smaller and lighter and can provide a high-resolution display quality. The resolution of a LCOS panel is shown by the number of pixels, similar to a liquid crystal panel; that is, the more pixels it possesses the higher resolution it displays. Furthermore, the semiconductor process, like the CMOS technology, finds application in the production of the driving circuit of pixels in a LCOS panel. By this method, the silicon wafer as the substrate can be manufactured in employing the 0.35 um semiconductor process. Thus, there is no need to throw in extra investment in production equipment, and the display resolution of a LCOS panel is greater than that of a glass-substrate liquid crystal panel.
Generally, the LCOS panel has two basic types: transmissive and reflective. Nevertheless, the most research and development work is centered on the reflective LCOS panel. Referring to FIG. 1, it is a sectional view of a pixel of a reflective LCOS panel. The LCOS panel comprises a first plate 100 and a second plate 101, wherein said second plate 101 made of a silicon substrate 102 consists of a thin film transistor (TFT) 106 for controlling pixel movement, a light shielding film 107 for blocking light irradiation on the TFT, a capacitor 108 for sustaining pixel brightness, a metal layer 111 in connecting the TFT 106 with the capacitor 108, an insulating layer 109 capping the metal layer 111, a pixel electrode 110, and a reflector 112, and wherein the second plate 100 made of a glass substrate 120 includes a transparent electrode (ITO) 118. The first substrate 100 and the second substrate 101 are assembled and inserted with a liquid crystal molecule 115 to form a liquid crystal layer 114 in between the two substrates. In addition, an orientation film 113 and 116 are formed above the reflector 112 and beneath the ITO 118, respectively.
With reference to FIG. 1, the incoming light passing through the liquid crystal layer 114 (as shown in Arrow I) directly emerges from the glass substrate 120 via the reflector 112 (as shown in Arrow O). With the variance of voltage charged on the pixel electrode 110, the liquid crystal molecule 115 changes its alignment, so as to control the polarization of light passing through the liquid crystal layer 114. Therefore, the emerging light will, through the application of the polarizer (not shown in FIG. 1) disposed above the substrate 120, be visible.
Referring to FIG. 2 which is a schematic diagram of FIG. 1, the LCOS panel consists of the glass substrate 120 and the silicon substrate 102, both of which possess a plurality of corresponding pixel electrodes, such as pixel electrodes 204a and 204b, and the cell gap H, the distance between the corresponding pixel electrodes, is inserted with the liquid crystal (other elements are omitted in FIG. 2). The optical effect of the liquid crystal will vary with the width of the cell gap. An uneven cell gap between the substrates resulting in the interfering ring visible to the naked eyes is called xe2x80x9cNewton ringxe2x80x9d that may cause injury to the display effect of the LCOS pixel.
Moreover, unlike the large size LCD panel, the LCOS application is aimed at the small size panel, such as the projector or the LC panel used in projection TV. The LCOS panel with general pixel size of 0.7 inch, 0.9 inch or 1.3 inch needs to amplify its image to 60 to 100 inch if applied to projection TV. Under such a high amplification rate, the imperfection shown in the applied product will become even more conspicuous once the display effect of the panel itself is not so satisfactory. Therefore, an important goal for research efforts is retaining a uniform cell gap H that is to control the space between the glass substrate 120 and the silicon substrate 102.
Typically, the solution to the problem of an uneven cell gap is to apply spacers randomly between the liquid crystal layers. FIG. 3 depicts the sectional view of a traditional LCOS panel. The LCOS panel consists of a glass substrate 320 and a silicon substrate 302 with a liquid crystal layer 306 inserted in between. A plurality of corresponding pixel electrodes, like electrodes 304a and 304b, is arranged between the substrates, wherein the cell gap H between electrodes 304a and 304b is upheld by virtue of disposing spacers 308. When the glass substrate 320 and the silicon substrate 302 are uneven or suffer external pressure, the spacers can prevent a direct contact of the two substrates. Meanwhile, this method incurs many shortcomings that, in addition to the need for strictly controlling the particle size of each spacer, these randomly disposed spacers are inclined to gather in particular place during liquid crystal injection, thereby failing to produce a uniform cell gap H. Moreover, in its application in projection TV, the disposed spacers that incidentally fall above the pixel will result in tiny black spots in the display. Thus, the shadow caused by applying spacers randomly will decrease the display performance of the LCOS panel.
Another conventional method of controlling the cell gap is to form slender protrusions between the pixels. FIG. 4 shows the sectional view of another conventional LCOS panel, wherein all pixels 402 are spaced apart from each other by a spacing 404. The pixel 402 corresponds to the display area of the LCOS panel, whereas the spacing 404 corresponds to the non-display area. The protrusion is made of curable material after UV and heating treatments, e.g. silicon dioxide or silicon nitride, and is formed in the spacing 404 with a shape having a width approximately 0.35-0.5 micron and a height approximately 3-5 micron. The protrusion is also called a photo spacer 406, which is perpendicular to the pixel 402. The photo spacer 406 formed in the spacing 404 is able to uphold the space between the glass substrate and the silicon substrate so as to uniformize the cell gap. Even so, such method has several disadvantages; for example, the slim structure of said photo spacer 406 causes process difficulty and said photo spacer is vulnerable for its lack of sustentation. Furthermore, the bottom part of said photo spacer is likely to have deformation when affected by the heat in the process. If the bottom deformation is too severe, it may cover up the pixel 402 partially, as shown in the dotted line 406 of FIG. 4, thereby hampering the aperture ratio of the pixel 402; on the other hand, the liquid crystal is susceptible to contamination during the process.
For the above, a solution is desirous as to how to maintain a uniform cell gap width H in order to prevent a Newton ring and display an excellent picture quality.
The present invention is intended to provide a device for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel with uniform cell gap and its fabrication method. By virtue of a device capable of pressure distribution, the objective of cell gap control in avoidance of a Newton ring is attained.
The other objective of this invention is to provide a cell forming apparatus and a cell forming process aimed at producing a liquid crystal display panel with high aperture ratio.
The cell forming apparatus includes at least a pressurized device and a pressure distribution device, wherein the pressurized device is utilized to assemble a first substrate and a second substrate, and the pressure distribution device is used to distribute the pressure imposed on the panel in an attempt to create a regular cell gap. The aforesaid pressure distribution device can be a mask having a number of dents corresponding to the display areas of the panel and connecting to each other with trenches.
According to the present invention, the cell forming process refers to exerting evenly distributed pressure on a first substrate and a second substrate, sealing the first substrate and the second substrate thereafter with sealant so as to enhance the uniformity of a cell gap. Meanwhile, the aforesaid pressure exertion area does not include a display area of the substrate.
According to the invention, manufacture of a liquid crystal display panel comprises a step of providing a cell forming apparatus at least including a pressurized device and a pressure distribution device. A first substrate and a second substrate on said cell forming apparatus are provided. Pressure on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate by said pressurized device of the cell forming apparatus is imposed to assemble a liquid crystal display panel. The pressure distribution device is provided between the pressurized device and one of the first substrate and the second substrate, for distributing pressure when the pressurized device imposes pressure on at least one of the first substrate, and the second substrate, thereby forming a uniform cell gap.
For the objects of the present invention, it addresses a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel. The panel comprises a plurality of display areas and a plurality of non-display areas, and is assembled by a first substrate and a second substrate with sealant. The cell forming process is fulfilled by 20 utilizing a manufacturing device. The manufacturing device includes, a first hot plate, a second hot plate, a first cushion, a second cushion and a mask, wherein the first cushion is disposed in the inner side of the first hot plate, the second cushion is disposed in the inner side of the second hot plate, and the mask is sandwiched between the first cushion and the second cushion. The first cushion and the second cushion are used to equally distribute the heat energy passed on by the first hot plate and the second hot plate. The mask includes a plurality of dents (recesses) and a plurality of trenches connecting to each other, and a plurality of outlets are formed on the edge of the mask in communication with the external air.
The cell forming process includes the steps of: heating the first hot plate and the second hot plate; placing a panel between the second cushion and the mask wherein the dents of the mask correspond to the display areas of the panel and the other portions correspond to the non-display areas of the panel; then, exerting pressure on the first hot plate so as to press down the first hot plate along with the first cushion and the mask in completing the cell forming process after the sealant has been cured; and finally, removing the first hot plate, the first cushion and the mask above the panel to retrieve the panel.
The present invention offers a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel. The liquid crystal display panel includes a plurality of display areas and a plurality of non-display areas, and is constructed by a first substrate and a second substrate with sealant. The cell forming process is accomplished by utilizing a manufacturing device. The manufacturing device comprises a hot plate, a heat-conducting plate, a mask, and a silicone membrane, wherein a vacuity hole is placed above the hot plate and the heat-conducting plate is deposited on the hot plate to distribute the heat energy coming from the hot plate evenly and the mask is situated above the heat-conducting plate and the silicone membrane is located above the mask. The mask is patterned with a plurality of dents (recesses) and a plurality of trenches in which the dents connect to the trenches. A plurality of outlets is formed on the edge of the mask so as to communicate with the external air. The cell forming process comprises the steps of: heating the hot plate; then, depositing the panel between the heat-conducting plate and the mask, wherein the dents of the mask correspond to the display areas of the panel and the other portions correspond to the non-display areas of the panel; thereafter, covering the mask with the silicon membrane so as to form a sealed space; then, vacuuming (evacuating) the sealed space through the vacuity hole to exert pressure on the sealed space; and finally, opening the vacuity hole to restore the pressure within the sealed space, and removing the silicone membrane and the mask to retrieve the panel.
By employing the manufacturing device and the method of the present invention, the liquid crystal display panel is able to generate a uniform cell gap so that the image quality can be enhanced to avoid the occurrence of a Newton ring.